I’m always the first one to make myself the butt of the joke, but you know what I never do? Pay myself a nice compliment, and here it is:
“Damn, Lara, you have some amazing people in your life.”
That’s right, I said it. I have what the youths call “ride or die” people, and here are some fantastic examples of those amazing people:
• My roommate has sat at my bedside in the ER as multiple nurses tried to force my dislocated jaw shut and I laughed hysterically due to my painkiller-fueled emotions.
• I have friends that have stayed on the phone, in silence, for hours because I just needed someone to be around, even if they weren’t physically there.
• Once, after I had so much stress and confliction built up I couldn’t breathe, my first roommate brought me a watermelon and some cracked plates and bowls; and, with a few tosses, a couple of laughs, and a lot of cleanup, life seemed a lot easier and a hell of a lot more fun.
See, we are all so hard on ourselves sometimes that we overlook the people around us. We don’t have the best job, our love-life is a joke, and/or our latest Instagram post didn’t get enough likes (and we worked hard on that caption!); but, after all that, if we surround ourselves with the people who are willing to get us fries and chicken strips at 3am because that’s just what we need right now, we’ll just come out of that self-pity so much easier and to such a warmer welcome.
I mean, yeah, sometimes even the people we surround ourselves with can be the worst, but there’s always those few who really stick out — whether in times of tragedy, celebration, or just during those moments in your life that you’ll always remember (like when you get a tattoo at midnight on Hollywood Blvd., but that’s for a different post).
So, to my friends, to my readers’ friends, and to all the amazing friends around the world: thank you. Thank you for hanging around for the tears, the fights, the laughs, the memories, and possibly the cheesiest thing I have ever written. You make the day easier.
P.S.: I blame all the cheesiness on the adorable children and their friendship in Stranger Things.